AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Reaches New 52-Week High at $35.65

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $35.65 and last traded at $35.47, with a volume of 94094 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.19.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.74 and a 200 day moving average of $33.60.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.99%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is presently 121.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher Hogbin sold 12,781 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $445,673.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 189,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,887,000 after acquiring an additional 42,451 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 87.4% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 74,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 34,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 230,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,156,000 after acquiring an additional 88,000 shares in the last quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $4,192,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.3% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 129,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,011,000 after purchasing an additional 48,122 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm is a related adviser The firm manages separate client focused portfolios for its clients. The firm primarily invests in common and preferred stocks, warrants and convertible securities, government and corporate fxed-income securities, commodities, currencies, real estate-related assets and infation-protected securities.